The fiscal cliff: How close are we?

Mike TowerJust My Opinion

Published: Sunday, December 9, 2012 at 4:30 a.m.

Last Modified: Friday, December 7, 2012 at 1:21 p.m.

We keep hearing we are rapidly approaching the edge of the "fiscal cliff." Most of us (and our leaders) seem to take comfort in the word "approaching," as if this means we have a chance to avert disaster.

"We're so far gone, we're over the cliff," said Ron Paul, R-Texas, who will retire this year after serving 12 terms in the House, "We cannot get enough people in Congress in the next five to 10 years who will do the wise things. We have to prepare for having already fallen off the fiscal cliff."

This D.C. insider believes we will never see actions to avert the crash. I agree and think we need gigantic cushions and parachutes — and we need them now! We need to stop deluding ourselves by thinking gradual changes in direction will work. We need immediate actions to either stop the spending madness, or to make the crash landing survivable for as many of us as possible.

A few examples of the causes and proof of our financial trouble:

First, we have overspent for our military for the past few decades. I read recently we spend more for military goods and services than the next 27 developed nations — combined.

Also consider: We borrow all funds for this expense because every dollar of our nation's revenue is already committed by law to fund other expenses. Military spending is purely discretionary. How can a nation, with less than 5 percent of the world's population, continue borrowing and spending this way, especially when we are already so deeply in debt? When we were the wealthiest nation in the world, perhaps we could reasonably police the world, but we can't afford it any longer.

Second, America spends nearly double for health care per capita than any other developed nation, and yet we rank No. 32 or worse in health outcomes. Within our ineffective and unaffordable health care system, the global pharmaceutical industry garners the vast majority of its profits — all from our tiny proportion of the global population.

How can this be? It's quite simple — all other developed nations in the world have universal health care systems with their federal governments paying for all expenses. This is often referred to as "single-payer health care." These countries all tightly control expenses, including having pharmaceuticals restricted from use unless they are absolutely unique and offer significant benefits over the lower-cost generics. In cases where the same product is available from more than one manufacturer, the low-price bidder wins all the business.

The pharmaceutical industry certainly doesn't favor one-payer systems, but for decades it has been able to rely on the American health care system to subsidize global profits. This industry has continually and successfully lobbied lawmakers to prevent them from implementing a single-payer system here. America has been the "golden goose" for this industry for decades as the dramatically higher prices we pay for prescription drugs ends up subsidizing the costs of drugs for all other developed nations.

This is why I disagree with Obamacare. A noble idea for sure, but all it does is expand an already too expensive and ineffective health care system. Our leaders allowed the lobbyists for the pharmaceutical, insurance and legal industries to write the laws. The exact same thing happened under President George W. Bush when he and the Republicans led the fight for the Medicare Prescription Drug Plan.

Finally, and most importantly, our nation now has more than $121 trillion in promised but unfunded future health care benefits for boomers over the next several decades. Think about this number! We worry about a $16 trillion national debt but see our leaders continually unable to reach agreement on how to reduce this growing debt by a paltry $1.6 trillion — over the next decade. Clearly Mr. Paul believes they will never find the courage to confront the many times more significant unfunded entitlements coming due.

As the rational head of any business or family knows, you cannot continue to massively borrow and spend forever without grave consequences. Our nation is way past the edge of the cliff, and we now face a financial crash that will affect every citizen in our nation beginning sooner than we might think. Our leaders and citizens deny these facts at our nation's peril.

Don't bother putting helmets or elbow and knee protection on you or your kids — the height from which we fall will result in a catastrophic crash. Maybe the best advice is the old line about preparing for an airplane crash by placing your head between your knees — and kissing your a-- goodbye!

What will our last thought be? I hope it won't be "Why didn't somebody warn us?" — because Ron Paul certainly tried.

These are my opinions. What do you think?

Mike Tower lives in Hendersonville. Reach him at mike41tower @gmail.com or visit capau.org.

<p>We keep hearing we are rapidly approaching the edge of the "fiscal cliff." Most of us (and our leaders) seem to take comfort in the word "approaching," as if this means we have a chance to avert disaster.</p><p>"We're so far gone, we're over the cliff," said Ron Paul, R-Texas, who will retire this year after serving 12 terms in the House, "We cannot get enough people in Congress in the next five to 10 years who will do the wise things. We have to prepare for having already fallen off the fiscal cliff."</p><p>This D.C. insider believes we will never see actions to avert the crash. I agree and think we need gigantic cushions and parachutes — and we need them now! We need to stop deluding ourselves by thinking gradual changes in direction will work. We need immediate actions to either stop the spending madness, or to make the crash landing survivable for as many of us as possible.</p><p>A few examples of the causes and proof of our financial trouble:</p><p>First, we have overspent for our military for the past few decades. I read recently we spend more for military goods and services than the next 27 developed nations — combined.</p><p>Also consider: We borrow all funds for this expense because every dollar of our nation's revenue is already committed by law to fund other expenses. Military spending is purely discretionary. How can a nation, with less than 5 percent of the world's population, continue borrowing and spending this way, especially when we are already so deeply in debt? When we were the wealthiest nation in the world, perhaps we could reasonably police the world, but we can't afford it any longer.</p><p>Second, America spends nearly double for health care per capita than any other developed nation, and yet we rank No. 32 or worse in health outcomes. Within our ineffective and unaffordable health care system, the global pharmaceutical industry garners the vast majority of its profits — all from our tiny proportion of the global population.</p><p>How can this be? It's quite simple — all other developed nations in the world have universal health care systems with their federal governments paying for all expenses. This is often referred to as "single-payer health care." These countries all tightly control expenses, including having pharmaceuticals restricted from use unless they are absolutely unique and offer significant benefits over the lower-cost generics. In cases where the same product is available from more than one manufacturer, the low-price bidder wins all the business.</p><p>The pharmaceutical industry certainly doesn't favor one-payer systems, but for decades it has been able to rely on the American health care system to subsidize global profits. This industry has continually and successfully lobbied lawmakers to prevent them from implementing a single-payer system here. America has been the "golden goose" for this industry for decades as the dramatically higher prices we pay for prescription drugs ends up subsidizing the costs of drugs for all other developed nations.</p><p>This is why I disagree with Obamacare. A noble idea for sure, but all it does is expand an already too expensive and ineffective health care system. Our leaders allowed the lobbyists for the pharmaceutical, insurance and legal industries to write the laws. The exact same thing happened under President George W. Bush when he and the Republicans led the fight for the Medicare Prescription Drug Plan.</p><p>Finally, and most importantly, our nation now has more than $121 trillion in promised but unfunded future health care benefits for boomers over the next several decades. Think about this number! We worry about a $16 trillion national debt but see our leaders continually unable to reach agreement on how to reduce this growing debt by a paltry $1.6 trillion — over the next decade. Clearly Mr. Paul believes they will never find the courage to confront the many times more significant unfunded entitlements coming due.</p><p>As the rational head of any business or family knows, you cannot continue to massively borrow and spend forever without grave consequences. Our nation is way past the edge of the cliff, and we now face a financial crash that will affect every citizen in our nation beginning sooner than we might think. Our leaders and citizens deny these facts at our nation's peril. </p><p>Don't bother putting helmets or elbow and knee protection on you or your kids — the height from which we fall will result in a catastrophic crash. Maybe the best advice is the old line about preparing for an airplane crash by placing your head between your knees — and kissing your a-- goodbye!</p><p>What will our last thought be? I hope it won't be "Why didn't somebody warn us?" — because Ron Paul certainly tried.</p><p>These are my opinions. What do you think?</p><p>Mike Tower lives in Hendersonville. Reach him at mike41tower @gmail.com or visit capau.org.</p>